Four former guards of the notorious private security firm Blackwater face new manslaughter charges from the US DoJ over a 2007 shooting in Baghdad. The original charges were dropped in 2009, a month before a scheduled trial.

The case was reinstated in 2011, with prosecutors taking a long
time to review what charges they could prove in court. The new
indictment returned by a grand jury in Washington charges 33
counts, including voluntary manslaughter, attempt to commit
manslaughter and using a firearm in a crime of violence.

The guards, Paul Slough, 34, Nicholas Slatten, 29, Evan Liberty,
31, and Dustin Heard, 32, had pleaded not guilty to the initial
charges brought against them back in 2008. The initial charges
had been thrown out after a US District Court judge ruled that
prosecutors relied on statements that the guards gave under
threat of losing their jobs.

Prosecutors said the suspects used a sniper rifle, machine guns
and grenades during a September 2007 shooting in Baghdad's Nisur
Square. The skirmish left 14 unarmed civilians dead and at least
18 others injured.

The Blackwater guards said they had been attacked by militants
and had to use force to protect a US convoy in their charge. They
claimed any civilian deaths were collateral damage.

The incident strained US relations with Iraq and raised concerns
over the increasing use of private military contractors by the
American government.

"The vast majority of the US contractors who served in Iraq
did so with honor and integrity, but, as alleged today, these
defendants abused their power through a relentless attack on
unarmed civilians that recklessly exceeded any possible
justification," US Attorney Ron Machen, the chief prosecutor
in Washington, said in a statement.

Prosecutors last month dropped their case against a fifth guard,
Donald Ball, citing "prosecutorial discretion" based on
their "assessment of the admissible evidence against him."

The defense team voiced its disappointment with the development.

"We are disappointed that the Department of Justice has chosen
to proceed with this prosecution, which we strongly believe has
no merit whatsoever," attorney Dave Schertler said in a
statement.

A hearing in the case is scheduled for October 25. No trial date
has been set.

Blackwater underwent a series of transformations and changes of
management following a spate of scandals over unwarranted use of
force in Iraq and Afghanistan and trafficking of arms. It is now
named Academi.